Mixed-surface events are gradually coming back to the FIA World Rally Championship. After one day of the 2009 Cyprus Rally that was held on asphalt and a Rally of Turkey this year that mixed some asphalt sections on an all-gravel route, the Spanish round of the World Championship also brings a new dimension to the end of the year.On Friday, the crews will face a stage that is 100% gravel (SS2/5 La Ribera d’Ebre) and two mixed surface stages. The first stage of the loop, Terra Alta (35.94 km) is 73% gravel. The final stage, Les Garrigues (17.28 km) is split equally between sealed and loose surfaces.
The two Citroën C4 WRCs will be in gravel configuration on the first day, but will be put into full asphalt specification for Saturday and Sunday during a long service halt (1h15m) on Friday evening.
Citroën Junior Team manager Benoit Nogier commented: “There’s going to be a lot of work to convert our Citroën C4 WRCs from gravel to asphalt specification. We’ve prepared for this service halt especially so that we can be both quick and efficient. The team will be embarking on two 75-minute sessions, which in theory gives us enough time to do everything we need to do…as long as all goes according to plan.”
The two Citroën Junior Team crews each spent a day testing in the south of France in order to prepare for the penultimate round of the season. Sébastien Ogier reported : “The roads were damp. It wasn’t ideal for us to work on the set-up but it was really important to get the kilometres in for both myself and Kimi, who was asking me a lot of questions so that we could compare our impressions.”
“We’ll start second on the road for day one so we’ll certainly suffer a bit with road-sweeping,” continued Sébastien. “We’ll just need to stay in touch and not lose too much time compared to the drivers who are starting behind us. This first mixed day could well play an absolutely crucial role in the final classification. My objective is to finish runner-up in the World Championship and so I need a good result in Spain.”
“It’s another step into the unknown,” added Kimi. “I don’t really know if our start position will be a help or a disadvantage. On the gravel, we will maybe have a clean line to help us but the asphalt sections might be very dirty. It will be vital for us to come out of the first day without making any mistakes so that we are in a good position for the rest of the rally.”
Source: RedBullRallye
Courtesy: momo
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